The Impact of COVID-19 on Professional Practice in the Northern Territory, Australia

Abstract

This commentary article describes the clinical context in the Northern Territory, Australia, and the concerns and changes in practice brought forth by COVID-19. We provide an overview of the local response, which has included a shift to telepractice, and discuss the merits and potential issues of telepractice service provision in remote and very remote Australia.

Searching for New Model of Digital Informatics for Human–Computer Interaction: Testing the Institution-Based Technology Acceptance Model (ITAM)

“…Countries like Singapore and Australia launched a digital app and QR tracing, while data encrypted technology was reserved for government-based utilization [ 156 , 157 ]. In Singapore’s attempts to control the COVID-19 pandemic, technologies such as artificial intelligence and data analytics have played a critical role.…”

Quality in the Time of Chaos: Reflections From Teaching, Learning and Practice

“…Of particular importance, is the question of optimum balance between virtual and face-to-face teaching and learning in academic and in clinical settings. The move to online teaching and clinical practice not only prompted anxiety (Staley et al, 2020) but also provided new learning opportunities. However, the potential for digital exclusion in education and practice must not be overlooked (Watts, 2020).…”

“…Clinical experience is core to the education of student SLTs and provides an opportunity for students to transfer theory into practice, while learning through their interactions with supervisors, peers, and community members (Held et al, 2019). COVID-19 has had a significant impact on service delivery and student placements internationally (Salas-Provance et al, 2020;Salter et al, 2020;Staley et al, 2020), and disruptions to placements are likely to continue for some time (Hays et al, 2020). Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, student SLTs on the MSc program were allocated to placements across a variety of caseloads and practice settings.…”

Service Delivery and the Use of Telepractice During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Iceland

“…Many different aspects were mentioned, which have also been reported elsewhere, for example, engaging with clients in their everyday environments (e.g., Heiskanen et al, 2021), overcoming geographic barriers to service delivery (e.g., Fairweather et al, 2016), and efficiency (e.g., Yoo et al, 2021). Interestingly, when advantages of telepractice specific to the client were described, these were mostly related to logistical issues that telepractice could resolve for clients, such as accessing speech-language pathology services from rural and remote locations, which is a commonly cited advantage of telepractice (e.g., Staley et al, 2020;Theodoros, 2011). There was also an Icelandic flavor to responses, such as being able to continue with scheduled appointments in spite of the unpredictable and harsh Icelandic weather.…”

“…Much research has been rapidly conducted to capture and understand SLPs' responses to service delivery and use of telepractice in the situation of a pandemic. Research has focused on responses in many different countries across six continents, for example, in Australia (Staley et al, 2020), Croatia (Kuvač Kraljević et al, 2020), India (Aggarwal et al, 2020), Kenya (Gibson et al, 2020), Peru (Salas-Provance et al, 2020), and the United States (Tambyraja et al, 2021). This article adds to the growing body of literature by describing changes in service delivery and telepractice during the COVID-19 pandemic in one country, which is rarely represented in the literature, Iceland.…”